Mumbai: Train honking drives Bandra, Khar locals to edge of despair

Vexed by incessant honking from trains thundering behind the GaietyGalaxy cinemas track at Bandra West a clutch of locals from Bandra and Khar met Western Railway General Manager GM Alok Kansal on Thursday evening to apprise him about what they term as auditory assaultResidents along with Ashish Shelar third from left at the meetingSenior Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leader Ashish Shelar took the delegation to the GMrsquos office in Churchgate where they met Kansal to alert him about the possibility of mitigating noise levels Shelar said ldquoLocals are used to the noise of trains they have lived with it for years but since lockdown the honking has become unbearable Earlier they were short honks now the honking is incessant from Bandra to Khar continual pressure on the horn that has no let uprdquoNever beforeParsi Colony resident Zameer Palamkote said ldquoI am a fourthgeneration resident and I can state emphatically that the auditory assault through train honking has never been as sustained as it is now It has amplified since lockdown We have a majority of senior citizens in our colony with the average age being 70 It is sheer torture for them Earlier we may have heard short beeps of the horn but now there is a continual sound as if somebody is leaning on the hornrdquoPrior to the meeting Palamkote claimed that the residents had written to the Railways through different housing societies to highlight the problem and collectively sent correspondence under the Varde Marg Residentsrsquo Association Area Locality Management ALM No 107 umbrella in November 2020 to Shelar and corporator Swapna Mhatre stating that the honking was ldquoaffecting the wellbeing of citizensrdquo Palamkote who is joint chairman of the ALM had stated in his correspondence that ostensibly the Railways had said that one of the reasons for this incessant honking was to alert trespassers and those who cross tracks about the arrival of trains ldquoWe are supposed to bear the noise because of the rule breakersrdquo said Palamkote adding that human life was valuable but there are ways to stop trespassing ldquoThe fence near the tracks between Bandra and Khar stations is broken in so many places allowing people to breach it and cross the tracks Instead of a fence a high wall should be constructed along the stretchrdquo he statedPeace windowNikhil Sitwala from Khar West said ldquoThere is peace only for a twohour window from 2 am to 4 am By 5 am the noise begins again I have lived here for decades earlier the honking was for 5 seconds now it goes on foreverrdquoAnand Varma and Prashant Bhatt of Jay Bharat Housing Society claimed that the Railways was dubbing the honking as ldquowhistlingrdquo They said ldquoThere are so many students and teachers living here They cannot work on their lessons We cannot even talk on or hear our phones in the presence of this excessive noiserdquo Bhatt addedldquoWe are talking about one train but imagine the cacophony when four trains pass it is unbearablerdquo Numbers bolster their story as the residents have used a decibelmeasuring instrument to show that decibel levels go beyond 90 during peak honking The Central Pollution Control Board shows permissible noise levels at 55 decibels in the day and 45 at night Every complainant cites problems like sleepdeprivation and a negative impact on mental wellbeing as a result of this prolonged honkingRailways speaksAlok Kansal general manager of Western Railway said ldquoI have assured residents that we are going to examine the issue technically and see what we can do to bring about a feasible solution and bring the honking within decibellevel limits We are extremely invested in finding a way to end this problemrdquo